A walkthrough to start your freelancing career
If you are not tired of your annoying officemates, heavy traffic, waking up as early as 4:00 in the morning, getting home at 10:00 in the evening though you leave office by 5:00 in the afternoon, then this is not for you.
In this article, I will show you some guidelines on how you can begin your freelancing career. So sit back, relax and enjoy reading!
Freelancers? Who are they?
Anyone can be a freelancer, whether you’re a self-employed, an employee, or even a student. Basically, these are the people being contracted (e.g. hourly or fixed) by clients to render service or perform task for them.
Unlike your 15th and 30th payday on your regular job, payment for freelancers may differ for each client or freelancing platforms you use. As said by successful freelancers, you can earn as much as 3x of your regular job salary or even more. Just a heads up boys and girls, it is quite difficult and frustrating finding your first client. It took me, a collective effort of 3 months prior getting one, and yes, I am even considered as lucky by my friends.
Let's get started!
First and foremost, aspiring freelancer should have a computer or laptop, good internet connection, and a spare time he can work with to start. People may find clients on their own or search on different freelancing platforms they can sign up to, such as Upwork.com (formerly known as oDesk), Freelancer.com, Onlinejobs.ph and so on. I personally use Upwork since it was referred by my colleagues.
Just complete your application to one of those platforms and let the job search begin! (P.s. I will create a new article on how to sign-up and use Upwork, please do watch out for it).
Tip: For a better chance of getting hired, Upwork offers different examinations you can take and can included in your profile. It is a critical step that others tend to forego.
Perfect Jobs For Beginners
Even if you are a beginner, do not be afraid, as plenty of jobs awaits to you. I listed down some of the freelancing jobs available for newcomers. To wit:
Virtual Assistant - This may consists of simple administrative tasks such as online research to a much complicated tasks such as content writing or even minor programming.
Average Salary: 3$ - 10$ per hour.
Online Writing Jobs - If your interests is about writing stuffs and good in grammar, this may be the best job for you. Owners of blogs and websites are looking for content writer to fill up their respective sites This may actually require you to do Search Engine Optimization and some research as well to support your articles.
Average Salary: 5$ and up per hour.
Graphic Designer/Web Designer - This job is for those people into arts, good in multimedia applications such as Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator, or have basic to moderate knowledge in web designing or programming. I decided to include this since some of the clients are considering newcomers for some money consideration.
Average Salary: May vary per type and scope of the project.
Above-mentioned works are just some of the available jobs you may take. Just a tip, set aside your desire to earn big bucks, consider this as your training ground, learn everything you can learn and I tell you, money will follow.
Conclusion
Being a freelancer has its pros and cons. Some may see it as a risk, others may see it as an opportunity. Personally, I believe it is a risk worth taking for, my baby step to financial freedom. You can learn a lot of things in this profession that you can use to start your very own business or company. Nonetheless, do this job seriously, have fun doing it, and time will come your success stories will be the next inspiration of our fellow freelancers.
I’ll be pleased to hear your inputs and comments about this. You may put those on the comment section below. Don’t forget to follow and subscribe for more articles of mine.
